Back in June, we shared the news that a nine-year-old guitar prodigy named Maya Neelakantan posted a flawless cover of TOOL's "7empest" on her YouTube channel. The elementary school-age kid totally shredded the 15-minute Fear Inoculum sidewinder, and since then, she's shared covers of numerous other TOOL songs on her page.
The covers are incredibly impressive to anyone who knows TOOL's music, and Maya's fanbase also happens to include none other than TOOL guitarist Adam Jones himself, who recently showed his appreciation for Maya's precocious craft by gifting her a signed copy of one of his signature Gibson Les Paul guitars.
In a Reddit post, Maya's father revealed Jones' act of charity and repeatedly thanked him for how happy it made his daughter, who views the TOOL axman as an idol. Read the full post below.
"Guys, I have an incredible and unbelievable news to share with you all! Adam Jones, the legend, sent a fully personalized, signed Gibson Signature guitar to my nine-year-old girl Maya! This is the best moment in her life and I am so happy to witness and experience that moment with her. I've been wanting to share this news with you all here in Reddit yesterday itself but ever since Maya posted her reaction videos in YouTube and Instagram she has got so much love and support from so many people and it's been really busy helping her catch-up with the comments and an incredible experience!
"None of us can believe Adam Jones did this. What a kind-hearted, caring and a generous man he is! TOOL already changed our life so much but now this made us respect and adore them even more. It is incredible and heart warming to see that such amazing people exists in this world and goodness prevails! For someone who is in such a level, achieved so much, being so famous and having such a busy life, he still showed what a humble and a caring person he is! What a human being! I always respected him a lot and now I respect him even more!
"You have to see Maya's reaction video when she received this amazing gift from Adam. It gives me tears every single time I watch that video. I can experience her emotions and if I get overwhelmed just witnessing that, I can't imagine how overwhelming it would have been for Maya. For Maya, Adam Jones is the God! Ever since she started listening to TOOL, her love and passion for guitar increased astronomically! It shows in all of her videos. That's all because of Adam Jones.
"She started analyzing his music so much, started learning how to use the effects like him, seeing how Adam makes simple sequence of notes sound so beautiful just the way he plays him, how his playing makes Maya transcend to a journey, Adam is the biggest inspiration for her! And now receiving this beautiful, thoughtful and very very generous gift from Adam, it has changed her life even more!
"Seriously, I cannot explain how much this means for her. Her reaction video says it all. Please do watch it. But please be warned, this video WILL MAKE YOU CRY!!!!"
Watch the video above via YouTube.
